"Are you going to run for Burlington, Dory?" asked Corny.
"We are headed in that direction now," replied the skipper.
"But the steamer does not change her course," continued Corny.
"And she won"t change her course until we have gone a couple of miles farther to the southward. They are getting smart on board of the Missisquoi," added Dory, like one who is driving a winning horse.
All hands watched the steamer very closely, and Corny would have given something handsome to have it made out that Dory was mistaken in his calculations. He was loyal to the skipper, but he did not like to have statements of the latter prove true every time. The steamer did not change her course, but she did not seem to get ahead very fast.
In half an hour the Goldwing was off Colchester Reef Light. The Missisquoi was still headed to the west; and Corny was beginning to feel triumphant, though he was not confident enough to say much. The steamer was three miles distant; but Dory was satisfied by this time that she had stopped her propeller, and was only waiting for the schooner to get a little farther to the southward, where she could not dodge in among the dangerous rocks.
"She is coming about!" shouted Thad.
"It is about time for her to do something," replied Dory. "But she is not coming down this way."
"How do you know she isn"t, Dory Dornwood?" demanded Corny, who was rather indignant when the skipper made another prediction.
"I think I understand her little game," answered Dory mildly; for he felt that he could afford to disregard the sharp tones of Corny.
"Where is she going?" asked Corny, wishing to make the skipper commit himself fully.
"She is going to the eastward," replied Dory without any hesitation; for it was all a plain case to him.
"How do you know she is, Dory?" demanded Corny. "She is still turning; and she isn"t headed any way yet."
"I think it is easy enough to see what she is about, Corny. Can"t you see it with your eyes shut?"
"No: I"m sure I can"t; and I don"t believe you can, Dory Dornwood,"
added Corny.
"She is now just as far west of Champion Rock as we are south of it. She is going to the eastward, so as to cut us off if we try to reach the ledges again. I think she has got her course now."
It was plain enough to all the members of the Goldwing Club, that, as they could see the whole of the starboard side of the Missisquoi, she was headed to the eastward. Corny gave it up when he saw that he could hold out no longer. From the smoke that poured out of the smoke-stack of the little steamer, it was plain that she was crowded to her best speed.
"She is in a hurry now," said the skipper, laughing.
"She is going to do a big thing now," added Thad. "She is going to catch us, sure."
"But I think we had better be doing something," continued the skipper, as he put the Goldwing before the wind.
"What are you going to do now, Dory?" asked Corny.
"That will depend upon circ.u.mstances," replied Dory, who suddenly appeared to be disposed to keep his own counsel.
As soon as the schooner was up with the light-house, the skipper hauled in his sheets again, and headed the Goldwing to the north-east. This course seemed to bother the steamer, for it made it evident that the boat did not intend to go near Champion Rock.
"She"s after you again," said Corny a few minutes later. "She has altered her course, and is coming down this way to head you off."
"All right! Let her come," replied Dory.
"But we are getting pretty close together," added Thad. "She is going to catch us this time. At least, I am afraid she is."
"Don"t worry about it, Thad. She isn"t going to catch us on this tack."
The Missisquoi was coming in between Hog"s Back Island and the reef of the same name. She kept the red buoy on her starboard, and the black on her port hand. She was hardly more than a quarter of a mile from the Goldwing, and running for a point ahead of her. It began to be very exciting for the boys, for they believed she would overtake the schooner in a few minutes more.
But the Goldwing came out just a little ahead; and the steamer was astern of the boat, but not more than a hundred yards. She gained on her every minute, until suddenly the Missisquoi stopped.
CHAPTER XVI.
A GRAVE CHARGE AGAINST THE SKIPPER.
The Missisquoi was aground. This result was exactly what the skipper of the Goldwing intended and expected, if the pilots of the steamer followed the schooner. Colchester Light is about west of a point having the same name. Extending north from Colchester Point is a shoal, on which, at the present low stage of the water, there was a depth of from two to eight feet. It was two miles and a half long from its northern extremity to the point.
Dory struck the shoal not more than a quarter of a mile north of Law Island, where the water was only about four feet deep. The Goldwing went over it without any difficulty; but there was not water enough for the steamer. Ordinarily a small steamer could have crossed any part of the shoal, but the lake had not been so low before for years.
The skipper of the schooner had calculated upon using this shoal in the same manner that he had used Champion Rock and Stave Island Ledge. If he had not depended upon this shallow water, he would not have left the ledges. But he did not expect that Captain Vesey would attempt to follow him where there was not more than four feet of water. It was evident enough that neither the captain nor Pearl was a competent pilot.
"Here we are," said Dory quietly, as he put the helm down, and came up into the wind.
"What"s the matter now?" asked Corny.
"Nothing the matter; but the Missisquoi has concluded not to come any farther in this direction just now," replied Dory, as he headed the schooner to the north-west.
"She has stopped!" exclaimed Thad.
"That is just what she has done," added the skipper.
"What has she stopped there for?" asked Corny.
"She couldn"t very well help it, for she is hugging the bottom."
"Hugging the bottom! What do you mean by that?" demanded Corny.
"In plain English, she is aground." And the skipper proceeded to explain the situation to his companions.
"Then, you knew what you were about all the time, Dory," said Thad, with something of admiration in his tones and manner.
"I thought I did all the time; but I did not expect the Missisquoi would try to go over a place where the bottom is so near the top as it is on this shoal," answered Dory. "There is nearly seven miles of deep water to the eastward of this shoal to the head of Mallett"s Bay. The lake is thirteen miles wide on just this line."
"Were you going up Mallett"s Bay?"
"Not at all. I expected to run back and forth over this shoal until the Missisquoi had enough of it, and then I was going to Burlington."